Riverbank chamber briefed by city planner on Imax, other businesses

When the latest “Star Wars” movie opens Dec. 18, a Galaxy not far away at all will be showing it in Imax.

The $3.5 million expansion of the Galaxy Luxury Plus theater was among the highlights discussed by John Anderson, contract planner for the city, at a Riverbank Chamber of Commerce luncheon meeting Tuesday. The Patterson Road cineplex is adding to its west end a 450-seat Imax theater, which will be open for the holiday movie season, he said.

Among several other topics were new construction in the Crossroads shopping center at Claribel and Oakdale roads and Crossroads expansion to the west of Oakdale Road.

In April, the center’s leasing manager, Scott Bohrer of Browman Development Co., said current construction will add a Dickey’s Barbecue Pit and four other businesses. The 9,500-square-foot building is going up in the southwest corner of the shopping center, next to Starbucks. AT&T also has signed a lease.

Tuesday, chamber members were sharing speculation they’ve heard that other restaurants there could be Chipotle and Panda Express. Messages to Bohrer and media relations departments with Chipotle and Panda had not been answered as of Wednesday evening.

As for the expansion across Oakdale Road, city staff is calling it the West Crossroads Specific Plan – about 380 acres bordered to the north by existing city limits north of Morrill Road and to the south by Claribel.

Anderson said the development would be mixed use, residential and commercial. Some of the residential development could be smaller, “empty-nester” housing, he said. “The 380-acre project will include about 40 acres or so of commercial development,” he said. “It is too early in the process to speculate as to which stores might be appropriate.”

West Crossroads also could boost the city’s 11-acre regional sports complex on the north side of Morrill Road, Anderson said. “We need more parking and the facility needs to be expanded. We are suggesting another 11 acres or so to be added to the park.”

Through a PowerPoint presentation, Anderson covered a lot of ground at Tuesday’s meeting. Among other highlights:

North County Corridor: The big issue for Riverbank is possible limited access by vehicles to city streets and businesses, he said. Claribel at Claus Road could end up the only signalized intersection on the east side of town. To address that, the city wants to develop a plan to generate industrial, job-creating land use and adjust the sphere of influence to promote an additional urbanized intersection at Eleanor Avenue.

Residential growth: Most of it over the next several years would be in the Bruinville area south and north of Riverbank High School, Anderson said, and could mean 250 to 300 new homes. “The Riverbank Unified School District is encouraged by the opportunity to collect much-needed school impact fee revenue,” he said. “All infrastructure is available to serve this area.”

Roselle Avenue at Claribel Road: This has been a priority intersection for the city for some time, originally designed to have traffic signals by the end of 2014, Anderson said. “Stanislaus County controlled the design effort and the project was delayed because of the lack of manpower,” he said. The county revisited the project last year and was pushing for a roundabout, he said. But city staff and traffic experts re-evaluated the intersection, and at its May 12 meeting, the council voted to support signals over a roundabout and conveyed that message to the county.

Patterson Road improvements: The road through town has been a real challenge and needs improvements to serve the mix of cars, buses, pedestrians and bicyclists that use it, Anderson said. The city wants a bikeway on the north side, and sidewalks. But in some stretches, there’s 80 feet of right of way; in others, 55. And “working with BNSF is like working with the federal government,” he said.

Anderson also talked about the downtown specific plan, the Riverbank Industrial Complex, Diamond Bar Estates and more. There’s a lot keeping planners busy, and among residents, “each person has their own interest and we have many folks watching.”

This story was originally published May 22, 2015 at 1:03 PM with the headline "Riverbank chamber briefed by city planner on Imax, other businesses."